TOM Glavine will make his first start of the season next Saturday for the Braves. He’s not throwing that hard. He never has. His success is based on the lost art of pitching.

Glavine is 21st on the all-time wins list with 305 victories, one of 23 pitchers to reach 300 victories. Just three lefties have won more games than Glavine: Warren Spahn, Steve Carlton and Eddie Plank.

Saturday’s start will give him 23 seasons pitching in the major leagues. He is 12th on the all-time list for games started with 682. No other active pitcher is close to having that many starts. Second on the list is Randy Johnson at 587.

Glavine hasn’t pitched since Aug. 14, when he injured his arm. He underwent offseason elbow surgery to repair a torn flexor tendon and had his shoulder cleaned out at the same time.

At age 43, Glavine really has seen it all. And the ex-Met has a unique 60-feet, 6-inches view of the game, and the changes that have occurred since he threw his first pitch for the Braves back in 1987, when teammate Jordan Schafer was less than a year old.

“I didn’t like the way last year went, I had to give it one last try. I enjoy doing this, and 43 years old is kind of young to have nothing to do with the rest of your life,” Glavine said with a smile.

He likes what the Mets have done with their bullpen, adding Frankie Rodriguez and J.J. Putz.

The Braves are much improved this year as well, especially because of the signing of free-agent starter Derek Lowe. Bobby Cox, beginning his 50th year in professional baseball, said he feels that if the Braves’ bullpen can hold up, with closer Mike Gonzalez coming back from Tommy John surgery, the Braves will be in the thick of the NL East race again.

The Mets have no such bullpen worries this year.

“They have a team a lot of people will pick to win the division,” Glavine said. “They certainly have that kind of talent. The additions they made are really strong additions.”

How strong are the additions of Rodriguez and Putz?

“You better hope you are not behind in the eighth inning against them, I can tell you that,” Glavine said. “It’s a different dynamic now. It’s a nice luxury knowing you got two closers in the back end of the game.”

As for the state of the game and the Steroid Era, Glavine said, “I don’t know if we will ever be out of [the Steroid Era], it’s something that is always going to be talked about for the rest of the history of the game.

“I do think we’ve addressed the problem, and I think we’ve done a good job of eliminating it as close to 100 percent that we can,” Glavine said. “You are not going to eliminate it because there is always going to be someone willing to try something.”

Looking around the clubhouse and at opposing teams, Glavine said the players are smaller.

“I think we’ve all seen some guys lose some weight,” Glavine said with a smile. “It’s getting back to what it used to be when you have a handful of guys who have the power to hit the ball out of any part of the ballpark as opposed to everybody in the lineup being able to do that.”

That’s how it was just a few years ago.

Glavine said the steroid admission has tainted Alex Rodriguez.

“There was initial disappointment,” he said. “I think A-Rod is a heck of a player. You can argue what kind of person he is and whether or not people like him, but he’s a pretty damn good player. Unfortunately that tarnishes him a little bit.”

No matter how this season winds up, Glavine’s career is not tarnished. He should be a Hall of Famer, and he has the numbers to prove it.